Clatsop County planning commission recommends approval of ordinance updating land-use code

The Clatsop County Planning Commission on Aug. 11, 2026 voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Commissioners approve Ordinance 26-08, which updates the county Land and Water Development and Use Code to incorporate recent state legislative changes and a set of local housekeeping amendments.

“For the record, Gail Hendrickson, community development director,” Hendrickson said in her staff report introducing the ordinance and the state updates. She summarized the annual DLCD bill summary and noted two bills this year that will affect county code. Vice Chair Johnson moved the commission’s recommendation, describing the package as largely procedural housekeeping: “Pretty pretty clear housekeeping issues here this morning,” he said before the motion.

The ordinance incorporates changes tied to two state bills: House Bill 4037 (a housing omnibus bill that shortens mailed notice distances and limits appeal standing) and House Bill 4153 (which creates a new farm-store use and associated agritourism and food-preparation rules in Exclusive Farm Use zones). The local ordinance also proposes allowing reduced setbacks and adjusted vision-clearance standards for resilience-hub structures and transfers authority to grant conditional-use permit extensions from the original decision maker to the community development director.

Commissioners asked staff several clarifying questions during the hearing about public participation, safety reviews for resilience hubs and whether local parking, noise, lighting and hours are controlled. Hendrickson told the commission that neighbors still may submit written comments when notice is provided, that building and planning permit review will address safety for resilience structures and that existing county parking and the county’s 2020 dark-sky ordinance would govern lighting and noise issues. The commission took a roll-call vote and recorded affirmative votes from Commissioners Wagner, Ittaca, Linder, Broom and Vice Chair Johnson; the motion passed.

Staff read an appeal-rights statement at the close of the hearing: the county’s decision may be appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) by filing a notice of intent to appeal within 21 days after the county’s decision. With no public testimony or agency comments offered at the hearing, the commission closed the hearing and forwarded its recommendation to the Board of Commissioners.